This invention relates in general to a foot measuring system, and more particularly, to a system for scanning an image of a foot and displaying the image with a measuring scale.
Correctly fitted footwear increases the comfort of the wearer and can prevent long term foot problems. It is well recognized that one's foot size changes with age, weight changes, and other factors. In fact, children and teenagers typically grow one to three foot sizes each year. Therefore, people should measure their feet each time they purchase shoes to ensure they purchase correctly sized footwear. Additionally, there are other places where one needs to measure foot size in order to obtain properly fitting footwear, such as when renting bowling shoes, ice skates, ski boots, and other specialized sporting equipment.
Correctly measuring someone's foot size often requires the assistance of knowledgeable sales people. In busy retail shoe stores, it may be impractical to hire sufficient sales people to be available to measure a customer's foot size in a timely manner. This is a source of frustration for some customers who would like to know their correct shoe size before beginning the search for a pair of shoes. Often, having the customer measure his or her own foot is not a desirable solution because conventional foot measuring devices are time consuming and can be confusing to interpret for those unfamiliar with their use, thus producing the possibility of inaccurate results. Additionally, small children may not want to have their feet measured using conventional devices.